The Megaliths of Carnac

Standing Stones
/ Menhirs

Single standing stones or menhirs are widely scattered
over the district. Many are associated with graves, for example the menhir
on the summit of the Kercado tumulus. Others are thought to be parts of
sightings for determining the extreme positions of the sun and moon, for
example Le Géant and Le Grand Menhir Brisé.

The following map shows the location of the major menhirs or single standing stones in the Carnac/Gulf of Morbihan area. There are many more standing stones than shown here.

Click on map to see enlargement

Le Grand Menhir Brisé

Beside La Table de Marchand and Er Grah tumuli
at Locmariaquer
Broken in 4 pieces: "whole" length 20 meters, weight 350 tons
Not local rock; thought to come from Quiberon peninsula
Stone smoothed, axe-plough carved on second from bottom piece
Opinion is divided on whether the menhir was broken by lightning or
an earthquake or whether it was deliberately broken
Thought by Thom (see map on Introduction
page) to be central sighting for lunar observatory
Also called Er Grah like the tumulus beside it.

Le Géant

200 meters north of east end of Kermario alignments
northeast of Carnac
6 meters high, tallest still standing menhir in the district
Thought by Thom to be a central sighting of a solar observatory

Le MoustoirMenhir to westMenhir
on top

About 3 km north of Carnac
One menhir on summit of tumulus and one at west side
The menhir to the west is 3.3 metres tall; the one on top is over
2 metres
About 2 meters tall

Le Champ de Menhirs

Between Le Géant and Le Moustoir
Several scattered menhirs about 1 metre tall in woods on line between
Le Grand Menhir in Locmariaquer and Le Moustoir
Some books mention remains of a dolmen with capstone missing
Difficult to find - we didn't find the site in 1998
Found the menhirs in 2002, but didn't see anything that looked like
a dolmen - very overgrown
.

Le Manio

Near eastern end of Kermario alignments
Larger menhir than surrounding stones of alignments
Associated with grave
Serpentine engravings at foot of stone, below ground level

Kercado

2 km northeast of Carnac
On summit of tumulus (Stone in foreground is one of the stones in the circle around the tumulus.)

Kerluir

500 metres south of Kermario dolmen and
west end of alignments
West of Kerluir dolmen
Behind can be seen St. Michel tumulus with the chapel on top

CrucunyMenhir
on tumulus

2.5 km north of Le Menec village
Menhir on top of tumulus is over 2 metres tall
2 menhirs south of village of Crucuny, one west of village near cromlech

Le Ménec

Over 2-metre high menhir west of west
end of Le Ménec alignments
About halfway between Le Ménec and the Kerderff menhirs

Krifol

Northwest of the west end of Le Ménec
alignments
2.9 metres tall
The photos show 3 sides of the same stone. Trying to identify stones
from pictures in books is very difficult because the same stone looks
so different from different sides. Luckily this one had a name plaque.
Top photo - looking towards Le Ménec alignments

Kerderff

North of Kerderff, northwest of Le Ménec
2 tall menhirs in a field of thistles
The tallest menhir is 5.4 metres

Croix Julien

7 km north of Carnac, just south of Le
Hahon village
Looks like same stone used for menhirs
A "Christianized" menhir??

Quiberon Peninsula

Several at southwest end of peninsula
One in town of Quiberon at southeast end of peninsula (lunar sighting with Le Grand Menhir)

All photographs were taken by myself, during trips to
the megaliths of Carnac in 1980, 1983, 1994, 1998, and 2002. All photographs
are my property and may not be copied or used without my written permission.